Reasonable
by Luinlothana
Summary: One-shot story exploring what might have happened after the ending of the episode Out of the Past.


Disclaimer: By definition rights to the intellectual property connected to a work belong to parties other than creators of fanfiction based on said work. Otherwise such derivative works would not be classified as fan non-profit creations. Classifying a story as fanfiction, therefore, contains inherent statement that no rights to intellectual property abovementioned story is based upon belong to the creator of the story or to parties commissioning such story and that no profit is intended to be made from such work. This case is in no way intended as an exception of the rule.

Summary: One-shot story exploring what might have happened after the ending of the episode Out of the Past.

A/N: This is my first story for Moonlight. I was in the middle of two other stories for my usual fandom when I started to have a strange feeling that I interpret characters too automatically and therefore less accurately. To correct that it is usually a good idea to switch to another fandom for a moment and deal with completely different characters. This time, I decided to try with a fandom that I've never written for even if I enjoyed it. I would be very grateful if you shared your comments when it comes to my take on characters in particular. After all, that's how the whole story started.

Special thank you goes to gategirl7 for beta reading and helping me improve the story.

Reasonable

"_I'm a vampire."_

Mick's words were reverberating in Beth's mind as she quickly strode out of his apartment and down the corridor to reach the elevator. She pushed the call button a couple more times than was necessary.

"_I'm a vampire."_

He was on the floor, looking defenceless, hurt and all he could do was beg her to go away. And when she finally did she couldn't help a feeling that she betrayed him somehow.

"_I'm a vampire."_

It wasn't like he made any threatening move or displayed any aggression towards her. And if he thirsted for her blood he could have helped himself all he wanted some time ago when he rescued her from that professor. Funny how the case seemed even more ironic now. But she was unharmed when she woke in his apartment. Or at least not harmed any more than she was before he got her there. And wasn't he holding a blood bag just now?

"_I'm a vampire."_

He saved Julia. And she thought of him as of her friend. Some friend she was proving to be, leaving him like that when he was obviously hurt. But then again there were all the vampire stories. If vampires were real how was she to say those weren't either?

"_I'm a vampire."_

The elevator dinged and the door opened. And then it closed as she was marching back in the direction of Mick's apartment.

III

She got to the door again and walked in quickly, afraid of losing her resolve. Mick was sitting by the wall in the exact spot she left him a moment ago. His hands were shaking and she could now tell for sure that he was indeed holding what looked like a blood bag.

He looked up as she entered, confusion and disbelief written on his face. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end no words came out.

"Mick?" She hesitantly walked closer to him, the surrealism of the whole situation taking toll on her with every passing second. "I think I'm done freaking out for a moment. Now what can I do to help you?"

She heard herself speaking but her voice seemed to be coming from afar. She decided she must have slipped into a mild shock. Which possibly wasn't a bad thing given the situation.

"You... came back." If it was possible the disbelief in his voice surpassed that on his face.

"I don't know what you think of me but I don't leave my friends when they obviously need help." The pearly-blue irises were trained on her as she spoke. For one bizarre moment she had a feeling as if _she_ was the dangerous creature here and he was afraid of her every movement. She took one last step in his direction and kneeled beside him. "First of all I don't think this is the most comfortable spot in your house so perhaps we should move this conversation to the couch, what do you think?"

"Beth..." He made a move as if he either tried to get up or get away from her. In either case he failed as he collapsed, obviously in pain at the rapid movement.

"Come on, let me help you." She tentatively took his hand and wrapped his arm around her neck. "Ready?"

He didn't reply but let her help him stand all the same. He proved heavier than she anticipated but she focused on her target and refused to complain. It took her almost two full minutes to get Mick to the couch and every second of that was a torture. For both of them.

"What did he do to you?" She whispered, looking at him as he curled after sitting down, no doubt in an attempt to soothe pain.

"A round of silver buckshot," he breathed in reply as if that explained everything. Possibly to someone who knew more about vampires it would. And thinking to what she knew about vampires...

"I'm sorry if I'm about to make a fool of myself quoting a cliché old wives' tale here, but silver isn't good, is it?"

"No. Definitely not good."

"So what do we do now?" Beth was praying that Mick actually had an idea about that. She somehow doubted you could call 911 on something like this.

Once again the pale eyes studied her. It was a bit unnerving but she did her best not to let it show in any way.

"Do you really want to help?" he asked after a moment.

"Of course I do. I told you that, didn't I?" As soon as she said that her imagination flooded her with images of the vampire launching at her and taking her blood now that he had her permission. She hoped her deep breaths to calm herself weren't too obvious.

"In the cabinet in my bathroom upstairs there is a packet of surgical instruments. Could you get it?"

She blinked in confusion. _Surgical instruments?_ He had to be kidding. Then again she very much doubted he was in mood for kidding right now. The request seemed simple enough though so after a second of hesitation she walked to the stairs.

III

When she finally found the surgical tools and went downstairs she found Mick trying to shrug his shirt off. A task that quite obviously was not an easy one considering that he couldn't move very well at the moment.

"Need a hand with that?" She asked coming back to him and placing the packet on the table.

"Actually," he said without looking at her for some reason, "I think this is going to be trashed anyway so I don't even know why I tried."

There was a sound of ripping fabric and a second later all she had left to do was to help him free himself from what was left of the shirt. As she was in the process of doing that she caught a glimpse at the wounds on his back and gasped. This immediately drew his attention.

"If you still want to help me, Beth..." he broke off, searching for something in her face.

"Of course I do."

"Then I need you to open the packet and take the forceps."

"The what?" She looked at him strangely, the open packet in her hands.

Mick reached out and took one of the instruments that, as far as Beth was concerned, looked like a cross between scissors and pliers.

"The forceps," he repeated, handing her the tool. She took it automatically before the realisation dawned.

"Wait. You can't expect me to..." She was frozen in panic now. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather do the vampire movie thing and just kill me on spot?"

"Beth..."

"I have never, _never_, done anything like this. I will hurt you and..."

"You will do fine. There isn't anyone else here and even if you do anything wrong, I heal fast."

"Now that's _really_ reassuring."

Suddenly the pale eyes met hers.

"I trust you."

She felt she was shaking, which probably made her even worse a surgeon but she made up her mind and took a deep breath.

"What do you need me to do?"

In the end she had a feeling that her voice came out a lot less confident than she wanted it to be.

III

Beth was trying to tell herself she was not feeling dizzy at the very thought of what Mick asked of her. Her hands were shaking badly, making her, if possible, an even less competent person for the job.

"I did mention that I have absolutely no medical skills, didn't I? I had to try to pass my first-aid test four times back when I wanted to be a girl scout. And it stopped at four because eventually I gave up trying."

"You'll do fine." For a second she wondered if he was trying to reassure her or himself.

"Just checking." She grasped the instrument more tightly and moved her hand towards his back. Just before it made contact she spoke again. "You told me there was no such thing as vampires."

"I didn't exactly have many choices at the time."

"You lied to me."

"How is this relevant now?"

"It will make a good thing to repeat to myself if it turns out I'm hurting you."

"Great." She heard him groan. "The reassuring thing is, you might have failed those tests because they took away points for the attitude." He sighed and hissed in pain. "Whenever you are ready."

"Okay. There it goes."

She actually needed to fight the urge to close her eyes at what she was doing.

_Calm down, Beth. You can do this. Besides this probably is just a very vivid dream. After all he told you he was a vampire. This can't possibly be real. It's just your overactive imagination. You probably were under too much stress lately. But if it is a dream then you can certainly take whatever your mind throws your way. You will laugh at it when you wake up. In the worst case you will go see a nice man who will tell you it's all because of your father's absence then will bring up Freud and explain the dream as subconsciously wanting to take more active role in the relationship. The tool probably just represents... finally._

When the last piece was out she dropped the forceps as if it burnt.

"All done. Will you be all right now?" She never realised her throat got this tight sometime during the whole process.

"Yeah, I just need to feed." Mick replied in a strangely detached voice. "Thank you, Beth."

"Don't ask me to do that again."

"I won't."

"Good. I'll just go upstairs and clean up, okay?"

He nodded, his concentration already on the blood bag he was holding. He finished it quickly without meeting Beth's eye.

Beth allowed herself to scan the room and spotted another blood bag sitting on the stand behind the couch. How she managed to miss it before she wasn't sure. Trying not to think about what she was doing she leaned over Mick to get it and handed it to him wordlessly. Then she quickly went upstairs, hurrying before her mind caught up with her. She was officially feeling sick.

III

It had already been twenty minutes since she made her retreat to the bathroom but Beth didn't feel ready to leave just yet. Even if with the number of times she had washed her hands right now she was finding it surprisingly easy to connect to her inner Lady Macbeth.

For the final time she splashed some cold water on her face, washed her hands again and looked in the mirror, telling herself that she would need to leave sooner or later.

The mirror in Mick's bathroom was another thing she was oddly curious about. Ever since she had entered the bathroom she couldn't fend off the completely random question of what the mirror was doing in a vampire's bathroom. Weren't they supposed to not have a reflection?

Shrugging the pointless doubt she forced herself to open the bathroom door and very slowly made her way downstairs, not really sure what she should be expecting.

Mick, it turned out, was sitting on the couch where she left him.

"Feeling better?" She asked in hopes of putting herself together by bringing the situation to something resembling normalcy.

"Yes, thank you. It turns out you saved me twice today, Beth.

"Actually it was more like a really drawn out one time. And I owed you, so I guess it's only fair."

He chuckled and she felt a bit better at the display of such normal reaction. In the end she found herself responding with smile. Somehow it proved enough to gather what was left of her courage and she walked to the couch to sit next to him.

"So," she spoke conversely as she sat down. "We have a vampire and a reporter at the vampire's house. If you tell me you have a friend called Lestat I'm seriously out of here."

He laughed at that and once again she felt oddly reassured by that.

"Actually my best friend's name is Josef. And any similarities you may observe are purely coincidental."

"I see. Sounds charming."

"If he puts his mind to it, he can be."

"I'm not sure I even want to ask. And you haven't answered my question."

He looked at her in confusion.

"What question?"

"Why do I keep dreaming about you?"

"I'm not sure I can answer that. But if I was in your boyfriend's shoes I would start seriously thinking about myself." He responded with a teasing smile.

"I didn't mean like _that_!" Beth had a vague feeling she was blushing and futilely fought to get her reactions under control. "There is this dream, ever since I was little..."

"I think it would probably be better if we saved that talk for another time."

"Why?"

"Trust me, I think you could use some calming down tonight. Do you want something to drink?" Her expression must have conveyed pure alarm because he chuckled again. "I meant alcohol. I can drink it as well."

"Oh. Actually, why not?" She moved to a more comfortable position of the couch and felt herself relax for some reason as Mick went to get the drinks. Suddenly she couldn't help herself. "Do you have a reflection?"

She heard another chuckle before she was handed her glass.

"I do. Can you imagine how I'd look if I didn't have a chance to check my appearance in the mirror?"

"Right. Can crosses hurt you?"

"Only used in the way the Romans intended them to be."

She shivered "Ugh. So if someone did that to a vampire..."

"Even without the rest of the torture the sun would finish the vampire off, most likely."

"Is it true what they say about sunlight then?"

"You've seen me outside during the day, you know."

"Okay, I admit, that was a stupid question. You did say though..."

"Oh, the sun definitely isn't good. The effect it has on us is just a lot less spectacular."

"You don't really sleep in a coffin, do you?" Another question slipped out of her mouth before she could stop it.

"I don't. And thanks, by the way."

"For what?"

"Not snooping around my rooms while you were upstairs. I imagine you wouldn't ask otherwise." She saw his lips curl up in a smile. "Why don't you order yourself something to eat while I make you coffee? I have a feeling it's gonna be a long night."

"Sounds good." She reached for her phone and dialled. Just before she heard the voice on the other side she turned to Mick again. "Can you fly?"

III

Beth awoke the next day with the images from her dream still lingering in her mind. She had to admit though, this one was much more interesting than her usual ones. Not to mention surreal. But if this was what she got for having a stressful job she could definitely live with it.

Groggily she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. Only to discover that she was not in her bed. Or any other bed, as the matter of fact. Suddenly fully awake she sat up straight on the couch and looked around, recognising her surroundings as Mick's apartment.

The memories of what was looking less likely to be a dream with every passing second came flooding to her mind. She groaned into the blanket that Mick must have covered her with when she had fallen asleep.

Mick was a vampire. That notion seemed so insane that she hardly knew what to do about it. This time yesterday she didn't even think vampires were real. And everything that happened afterwards... _Everything _that happened.

Suddenly a realisation hit her, no longer repressed by the shock of finding out she was friends with a vampire and she groaned again and, much to her dismay, choked a sob. A second later she found herself unable to stop shaking.

There were footsteps on the stairs but she found herself unable to turn around and face Mick.

"Beth? What is it?" She heard him ask as he approached her "Are you all right?"

"I shot someone. It just hit me. I actually killed someone yesterday." She managed weakly and felt cool hands embracing her.

"After everything Lee Jay did, you most likely simply saved the authorities the trouble."

"Logically I know there was no other way and that he probably deserved what he got but I never imagined myself able to take life. And I did it without even batting an eye."

"I know it's hard. But sometimes you are in a situation where you can't really think about what you are doing too much."

"Easy for you to say. You're..."

"What? A vampire? Actually I learnt that lesson in Ardennes in December of '44. And I was still very much human then."

"You were?" Somehow this seemed a safer topic considering but after a moment Beth realised Mick didn't respond in any way. She looked up for the first time and studied his face. He seemed disturbed by something and lost in memories. "Mick?"

He blinked. "I'm sorry, Beth. I just..."

"Yeah, I noticed. You know, I just realised you never told me how old you actually were."

"Haven't you heard that it isn't polite to ask people their age?"

"That's just women. But if you were a human then, you must have been somewhere between eighteen and," she looked at him critically, "let's say thirty. So that would give me..."

He laughed. "Actually, I'm eighty four."

"Oh." She grinned. "I must say you look awfully good for your age. Must come from living in LA."

He responded to her smile before growing more serious.

"Do you think you're gonna be okay now?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." She managed, realising that as hard as the memory hit her initially it had all but faded now. She noticed Mick had stood up.

"I'm afraid I can't offer you much of a breakfast. The only human food in my kitchen is what was left of your pizza last night."

"Hey, I've had worse breakfasts, trust me. Do you still have coffee though?" Only when he laughed she realised she might have said the last one a bit too hopefully. She untangled herself from the blanket and followed Mick to the kitchen.

"I think coffee is within the range of possibilities."

"Great."

She leaned against the counter in the kitchen and watched as he filled the kettle and put it on the stove. Then he moved to the shelves and made a move as if he wanted to reach for something before he hesitated.

"What is it, Mick?"

"Perhaps I should let you eat your breakfast and leave before I..."

"What? Do you have more blood bags somewhere in here?" She asked with honest curiosity. Somehow a vampire having blood stored in his kitchen seemed bizarre enough not to seem unsettling.

"Hopefully. My friend texted me that he put some there after the police left but I didn't have a chance to check."

Only now she registered the pale eyes staring at her instead of usual dark ones. She refused to ponder the fact that she was in a presence of a very possibly hungry vampire who might not have any food source other than herself available.

"Why don't you check then? You must be dying for breakfast as well." She very proudly noted that she displayed enough professionalism to make it sound nonchalant.

"Dying isn't quite the word I'd use." He removed a couple of glasses and bottles that were blocking access to something and paused again. "I wouldn't want you to feel..."

"You know, after yesterday I'm pretty sure there are very few things able to unsettle me right now. Go ahead and get the blood. We can have breakfast together."

The expression that appeared on his face in reaction to that was, Beth decided, quite amusing. Still he opened the metal door and retrieved some blood. Then, to her relief, he proceeded to fill a glass with it. This hopefully should provide for a semblance of sanity allowing her to live up to her suggestion unfazed. Of course, the fact that she still wasn't quite sure she wasn't going to wake any given minute helped a bit as well.

She suddenly realised Mick was looking at her with a look that told her he was wondering which of them should be considered insane at the moment. She couldn't help but grin at that.

"Bon appétit," she said and quickly grabbed a slice of pizza to cover for the wave of awkwardness she felt.

"Likewise."

She had a strange feeling Mick wasn't looking at her either.

III

Just as Beth was starting to adjust to the insane idea that she was just eating breakfast (if it really _was _breakfast – somehow she realised she had yet to look at the time) with a vampire she heard the door to Mick's apartment swing open. She froze.

"Hello, Mick. I thought I would drop by and see how you were faring after the whole..."

A young-looking (at that point Beth wouldn't really trust that assessment) man strolled into the apartment as if he owned the place and stopped at the sight of the two of them. She heard Mick sigh.

"Josef." Mick looked at her and apparently noticed her deer-in-the-headlights expression as he smiled and went to explain. "Beth, you remember how I told you about my friend Josef."

"Josef, this is-"

"Miss Blondie 'Killer Vampire Story' reporter, if I'm not mistaken." That sounded very much like an accusation, especially accompanied by a sarcastic smile. Somehow, that gave her enough of an incentive to break out of her initial reaction.

"Hey, it's not like that professor was a real vampire." Suddenly she felt like smiling impishly. "Besides, I ran the title for that story by Mick and he didn't veto it." The look on Mick's face was absolutely priceless.

"Did you?" Josef eyed his friend speculatively. "By the way, buddy, you were obviously talking about me with your little friend here. How come you never mentioned her?"

"She is young, female and good looking. Do you even need to ask?"

The two grinned at each other, obviously sharing some inside joke Beth wasn't privy to.

"Well then," The younger-looking man moved so suddenly that it took all she had not to show she was startled. "I can see you are all right and obviously in the middle of something." He let his eyes sweep over the whole scene in the kitchen. "If you need anything, I'm heading to the office, you know where to find me. Hmm, kill the bad guy, free the victim and get the girl. Not really my style but if it suits you..." He walked towards the door but paused half-way through. "And Mick? Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

With that he was suddenly gone, the door slowly closing behind him.

"Okay, that was interesting." Beth managed after a good minute.

"You think? He's not going to let me live it down for the next century. Literally, most likely."

"Sucks to be you." She shot back good-naturedly.

He grinned. "Again, literally sometimes."

She laughed again and finished her coffee that by then was barely lukewarm. Then she looked at her watch and paled.

"Oh, God. How is this possible?"

"You did have a long night."

"Still. Josh is going to kill me."

"I'm sure he will understand."

"He probably called me a dozen times by now."

"You can tell him you were so shaken by the whole ordeal that you just needed some time alone."

She stared at him for a moment. "How did you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Come up with a decent explanation on one second's notice."

"What can I say, age and experience." She snorted. "That, or I just had to get used to making excuses to keep my secret safe. Speaking of which..."

"I know, I won't tell anyone. Besides, Maureen doesn't pay me nearly enough to give her such a story and I'm not about to scoop the rivals."

"Now that's reassuring."

"Not to mention that I would be categorised as 'the vampire reporter'. Can you imagine what it would do to my career? And I doubt anyone would take me seriously. I mean, you could find people more than capable of fabricating such story by browsing YouTube for five minutes." She grinned.

"Seriously though..."

"Don't worry, my lips are sealed. Who do you take me for?"

"An excellent reporter?" He shot back with a smile.

"Good answer. But I don't believe in making a career by digging into my friends' private lives."

"And why did you come to work for the BuzzWire again?"

She rolled her eyes and went to find her jacket and bag.

"I need to be going."

"Of course." Was it just her or was there a hint of disappointment in his eyes?

"But beware, I'm going to be back soon. I still have a couple of questions for you."

"I consider myself warned. Do you need a ride home?"

"I'll manage. That's what they invented taxis for, you know."

"I can give you a lift without a problem."

"I know. But Josh is probably waiting for me and..."

"Of course." He walked her to the door, with a strange distant look on his face. He shook it off though before he turned to her again. "I will see you soon then?"

"Yeah. Soon. Bye, Mick"

"Bye, Beth."

The steel door closed and she slowly walked to the elevator. Somehow she couldn't help but feel that some new chapter just opened in her life. If only she had any idea what it would bring.

THE END

Reviews will be greatly appreciated.


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